Obama's Cabinet members mix policy, politics

Democrats have accused President Barack Obama of locking his Cabinet in a cabinet — but now he’s turning them loose for fundraisers and taxpayer-funded trips that meld policy and politics, and sometimes fall into the gray area between the two.

A half-dozen Cabinet members have made more than 85 trips this year to electoral battlegrounds such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to a POLITICO review of public speeches and news clippings.

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Those swing-state visits represent roughly half of all travel for those six Cabinet officials this year.

The rhetoric from the secretaries has at times detoured into fiery defenses that echo the campaign messaging of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. In addition, some secretaries — Housing and Urban Development’s Shaun Donovan and Education’s Arne Duncan — have helped the reelection effort by engaging in off-the-clock fundraising and massaging of local donors.

The effort intensified in late April, when Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, top strategist David Axelrod and Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard called some Cabinet members to DNC headquarters in Washington for an hour to discuss their role: how they could help Obama win reelection. Messina talked about the campaign’s organizational structure and Electoral College strategy, while Axelrod focused on the importance of staying on message, according to several people familiar with the meeting.

White House aides reiterated that message to the Cabinet — their personal views reflect on Obama — after Biden and Duncan both endorsed gay marriage, forcing Obama to address the issue before he wanted to, according to a source close to the administration.

The Cabinet trips aren’t illegal, unethical or even unusual. President George W. Bush deployed his advisers in similar fashion during his reelection run.

But it’s a higher-profile role than during Obama’s first three-plus years in office, when Democrats complained that Obama’s Cabinet was rarely seen and almost never heard, despite being stocked with popular former governors, a Nobel laureate and some former members of Congress. The travel reflects the campaign’s new urgency to dispatch high-profile boosters on the campaign trail in 2012, particularly given the distance some skittish Democrats are keeping from the president.

The six heavily traveled members are widely seen as having the administration’s best political chops — Donovan, Duncan, Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services’ Kathleen Sebelius, Interior’s Ken Salazar and Labor’s Hilda Solis.

White House officials said the secretaries have also traveled to many non-swing areas, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

“They travel all around the country, as does the president,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in an interview.

Just as under Bush, the use of the Cabinet at times tests the letter of the Hatch Act, a Depression-era law that regulates electioneering by government officials and is loaded with gray areas.

Three online fundraising solicitations from the Obama campaign used the names of Duncan and Donovan for recent events. That raised red flags for Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the Hatch Act Unit in the Office of Special Counsel.

While their official government titles aren’t on the fundraising invitations, Galindo-Marrone said the words at the top of the forms give the impression that they are the ones soliciting money as the party hosts — not the Obama Victory Fund — which could cross the line for what administration officials are permitted to do under the Hatch Act.

At issue are the online versions of invitations for a Chicago event Duncan appeared at in March with singer John Legend and a Boston event in mid-May, as well as the notice for Donovan’s participation in a Cambridge fundraiser in late May with Rep. Barney Frank.

“They do give rise to Hatch Act concerns,” Galindo-Marrone said after reviewing the online fundraising solicitations at POLITICO’s request.

The Legend invitation disappeared from the Obama campaign website after POLITICO’s inquiry. Online versions of the two May fundraising forms are still on the pro-transparency Sunlight Foundation’s website. On the Obama campaign website, the sameforms no longer include the language flagged by the Office of Special Counsel.

Readers' Comments (67)

There isn't anyone that really stands out from this bunch. His HHS Secretary was caught not paying taxes for her nanny but and Duncan plays a bad game of basketball but other then that....................not very impressive.

Let's change this team on Tuesday night November 6th, 2012 with a "sterling" Cabinet from a President Romney.

The AP finally recognized what I have been saying for almost two months now.

June is ugly for Dems, and especially for Pres. Obama.

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEMOCRATS_TOUGH_MONTH

And it could get worse! There are still voter ID suits filed by DOJ in FL and TX that likely will be expidited to SCOTUS and the DOJ will likely lose on those as well since the SCOTUS has approved such laws in other states in the past.

Then there is the "contempt of Congress against AG Holder, the ethics investigation of Maxine Waters, the Fast-n0-furious scandal (and cover-up), the Solyndra scandal (and other green energy companies), the Dept of Interior cover-up of green energy permits on federal land, the leaking of classified info by the WH, and another vote on the Keystone Pipeline. All of these are pending for July and Sept. August will be the Party conventions and Congressional recess.

Add in the slowing economy, potential EU problems, rising unemployment, Israeli strike on Iran, Korean nuke missile tests, Chinese suppression of dissent, Russian beligerence on Syria, etc, and you get a volatile mix of potential problems for the Pres. He will likely look incresingly incompetent and incapable as we approach October and the final push to the election.

Obama's so-called cabinet has about as much effect as a fart in a hurricane. They are mere bobbleheads and puppets at the end of Obama's strings and Obama himself is a puppet at the end of strings held by George Soros,David Axelrod, and Valerie Jarrett. He has spent more time with Andy Stern and Rich Trumka than he has with all his cabinet members combined.

His cabinet is called the " Ring of Imcompetence" The EPA is in FAILURE MODE! HOMELAND SECURITY is a JOKE DOJ is worthless Dept of Education doesn't educate And Obama's thougts come from a teleprompter But our media praises, applauds and smiles putting them on the deck of the Titanic

Where is Jesse Jackson? Where is Bill Ayers Where are the bag men hauling in the bags of cash for sales of legislation? Where are the Solyndra types that made the big bucks? Where are the Unions that where given loans, exemptions and GM? We need some investigative journalism to give us the whole story

An exceptional leader, even if he is not that exceptional,is one who surrounds himself or herself with quality leaders in their own fields. The trouble with the current administration is that the President has surrounded himself with Ivy League, so called intellectuals, that have lofty ideas about how to run their respective departments. The only problem with this is none of these people have any practical experience, hands on training in the midst of their respective fields. It would be wonderful if these people's ideas worked but 90% of the time they fail because their class room ideals are stupid and impractical. I am positive if Romney is elected he will surround himself with successful people who have REAL experience. Vote Romney!!!!!!!